The Today Series: June 2008 Archives
"Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love" (Revelation 2:1)
Revelation knowledge is a powerful force in one's life. A person will go no further, climb no higher, nor sacrifice more than the greatness of revelation knowledge in his life enables and demands. Such revelation is the essence of what Paul spoke of in Ephesians 1:17-19 when he prayed: "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe."
"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Psalms 16:11).
In the early 1970s I was the pastor of a church in south central Missouri. In those years we experienced much of the wonderful graciousness of our Lord. It was easy for people to get saved and the Christian life was one of great joy. Many things happened that were very memorable during that pastorate.
A young man named [Bill] came to me on one occasion wanting spiritual counsel. He was married and was the father of a young child. The story he told me was one of drunkenness, debauchery, and infidelity. At my suggestion he went through a period of personal cleansing from the defilement of sin and fully surrendered his life to the Lord Jesus.
There is tremendous power in the spoken word, whether what we say is good or bad. "Out of the mouth proceed blessing and cursing" (James 3:10a).
We consistently confess that which we believe the most. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34b). What we believe, we speak. "I believed, and therefore have I spoken" (2 Corinthians 4:13b)
I have spent many hours, days and even years laden with anxieties. It is not an optimum way to live life. There was a time that anxiety was such a way of life that on one occasion, when I was at peace with no anxieties, I became anxious about not being anxious, thinking something must be wrong.
Anxiety is the antithesis of faith. When we are anxious, we are not believing and when we are believing, we are not anxious. It is that simple.
"For with God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37).
It was quite a struggle for me to come to the place that I could believe that God could do anything. When I began to realize that the work of God depends of the faithfulness of God, it was then that I started depending on Him instead of on me or on others.
Key ingredients to a walk of faith and victory are concepts, attitudes, and life expressions.
"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:1,5).
I'm not so sure that it would be a settling experience to have a vision of God. The scripture records a variety of divine appearances. Men such as Paul (in 2 Corinthians 12:2-4) and John (on Patmos in Revelation 1) experienced visitations and visions of the Lord. In every case they were either dynamically or traumatically affected.
"Being confident of this very thing, that he who hath begun a good work in [me] will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
God's plan for each life is so comprehensive that it includes all of life. He doesn't compartmentalize life into the religious and non-religious--spiritual and natural--such as we tend to do. His plan and potential extends to our social life, work life, home life, etc. with instructions and exhortations in each sphere, integrating them into a whole.
